It is now the second week of the second month of the Spring in the Southern Hemisphere.
It means I just finished repotting around 25 of my plants, including one big Red Pine cascade and the Calliandra.
A LOT of work.
The good thing is in the last season (including winter) I haven't lost a single tree, and the ones I have just repotted are already budding out like crazy;
which means TIMING IS ALL.
If repotted "when buds start to swell" (pines, maples, some deciduous and tropicals), with the right soil and taking good care with the roots (trimming, surely, but...the right ones), they don't die on you, on the contrary, they thrive.
Quinces and some tropicals I usually repot in the fall, and Satsukis after the first big bloom (by the end of the Spring usually).
So just to share my satisfaction with you: I am not an official bonsai assassin any longer.
Below some beauties right now (all repotted in the last few days):

Japanese Black Pine exposed roots


Calliandra Selloi


Kotohime Japanese Maple

Congrats, I wish I could say the same

Now I’d like to see a picture of your pine tho...

FWIW, I ended up repotting my junipers in late September/early October: it’s no longer hot and the plant has at least 2 months to settle before it gets close to freezing point during the night.
Unless I have some aggressive pruning to do (either roots or branches), in which case I’d repot in early March with the deciduous.

Repotting in fall leaves the tree free to grow without stress during the spring spree and it seems to work well enough.

Probably the sturdiness of junipers is coming to my help, or maybe I’ve just been lucky

In fact many bonsaists repot junipers by the end of the summer/fall, and apparently they do well.
Mine I do root work in the spring, but our seasons are veerrryyyyy long in Brazil.
Which helps a lot.

BofhSkull wrote:

Now I’d like to see a picture of your pine tho...

You can start your journey by clicking here:
www.bonsaiempire.com/forum/progressions/...how-me-yours?start=0

Congratulations on not killing